


Past and Present

by Livvy



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-05
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 05:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livvy/pseuds/Livvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mind was filled with so many thoughts that it felt like it was going to burst. Distant reminiscences made him strangely mindful of the present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past and Present

Cid breathed a sigh of relief as his wife shut the door firmly behind her. A quick glance at the clock on his bedside table told him it was quarter to eleven. Perhaps they would be able to indulge in a few hours of privacy. How long had it been now? It felt like it could have been months or even longer, though it couldn’t have been more than a week or so… but each and every time she looked at him like that, it always felt like an age…

She actually climbed over the footboard to their bed in her haste to reach him, and he didn’t blame her for her eagerness. He opened his mouth to accommodate hers, wrapping her in his arms as soon as he was able. The kisses and touches they shared held every bit of sweetness, and it was moments such as this that he craved so severely. Faram knew these rare and treasured glimmers of solitude were worth every bit of responsibility they both dutifully fulfilled during the day. Still, Cid would never complain, not when he had this waiting for him at the end of the night.

The way she moved against him was the same as ever. That smooth and steady rhythm of her flesh elicited a gentle moan from his lips, and his only thought was that he wanted to return the sensations, to possibly convey even a fraction of his love for her. And he knew her so well, having spent years analyzing her every reaction for no reason other than to bring her more and more of this pleasure. Though her own advances on him were generally quite quick, he knew just how much she loved it when he took things slowly. For that reason alone, he reached a hand underneath her nightgown and simply laid it on her stomach, kissing her even more tenderly than before, eagerly awaiting her eventual anticipation…

And then, in a single moment, the aura of tranquility shattered before their eyes.

“Muuuuuuuuuummy! Daaaaaaaaaaddy!”

Neither of them moved for several seconds, though Cid closed his eyes and selfishly prayed that the call, if unanswered, would be revealed as nothing more than a shared figment of their imaginations. But then he felt his wife’s chest rise and then fall against his own in a disheartened sigh, and he was forced to bitterly accept that they were done for the night.

They broke apart, and Daryl let herself fall onto her side of the bed in what appeared to be utter exhaustion before Ffamran entered the room. He looked at them both with his big brown eyes, blissfully unaware of what he had been so close to interrupting, before scampering over to his mother’s side of the bed and pushing against her shoulder continuously as she laid face down on her pillow. “Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy.” When that failed to earn even the slightest response, he ran all the way around the bed and tugged on Cid’s arm. “Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy.”

Cid glanced at his wife’s immovable form and remembered just how busy her schedule had been that day. She had written spare copies of reports in the morning, gone back home to feed Ffamran and his caretaker at noon, worked on constructing her hovercraft prototype during her one free hour, and taken notes about the incoming magicite samples from Lhusu. His own day reviewing budget reforms was about as stressful as a walk though Trant in comparion. The fact that she had had enough energy left to initiate a lovemaking session was nothing short of admirable. He simply didn’t have the heart to make her move. He gave her a soothing pat on the square of her back before stretching and standing. “What is it, Ffamran?”

Those wide brown eyes stared up at him, showing not even the faintest trace of fatigue. By the gods, how did the boy do it? “Daddy, I’m thirsty.”

“You’re thirsty.” He placed his hands on his hips, looking down at his youngest son. It was no fault of Ffamran’s, of course. He was thirsty, after all. That wasn’t something the boy could exactly control. “Right. Let’s get you some water.”

“Chocolate milk. Chocolate milk!”

“You are not having chocolate milk at eleven o’clock at night.” Cid shrugged on his dressing gown and followed Ffamran into the kitchen, blinking as the lamps on the wall illuminated themselves.

The four-year-old boy bounced a little while his father fetched him a glass and poured him some clear water. “Can I have a snack, too?” he piped up hopefully.

“What is your mother’s rule?”

“No snacks after dinner.”

“Right. No more snacks today.” Cid placed the glass into Ffamran’s outstretched hands and watched his son drink contentedly. “Not too much, now. You’ll have to go to the bathroom later.”

Ffamran ignored him completely, downing the contents of the entire glass without so much as stopping to take a breath. When that action was done, he promptly reached up and set the glass on the counter with a clatter before dashing off in the direction of his bedroom. It took several seconds for Cid to realize that he was doing nothing but standing perfectly still, watching his son’s antics with a placid smile on his face. He was too tired for his own good… but it was the little things of that sort that warmed his heart.

Ffamran’s bedroom was a bit too large for a child. It had served as a storeroom of sorts for Cid not so very long ago, and the bookshelf in the corner still bore row upon row of advanced scientific texts as well as a mismatched collection of picture books. Cid stooped to pick up a favorite moogle plush toy from the ground and tucked it gently next to Ffamran’s neck. The boy giggled and squirmed, slipping himself under the covers of his bed.

“This is it for the night,” Cid stated firmly. “If you leave this bed before morning, I will not be happy. Go to sleep.” Perhaps it was the doctor’s hopeful imagination, but he swore he spotted a hint of tiredness in his son’s features. He pushed back those stubborn brown bangs – so very like his own – and placed his lips to Ffamran’s forehead.

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, Ffamran. Sweet dreams.”

Smiling at those words, Ffamran rolled onto his side, clutching his stuffed moogle a little tighter and closing his eyes at last. There was not much left for Cid to do, though he wished to stay perhaps a little longer and observe his child’s sleeping form, to compare the sight before him to the baby that now only existed in his memories…

But his thoughts then returned to the other who was not quite yet asleep, and he knew there was nothing more that could be done here. He shut the door as silently as possible before making his way back into his own bedroom. Daryl was in the exact same position she had been in as Ffamran had pestered her to wake him up. Cid discarded his dressing gown as lazily as possible by leaving it in a heap on the floor. He would normally show greater care toward his own possessions, but the bed was warm and exhaustion was beginning to cloud his priorities. A quiet breath left his lungs once he curled himself up against the woman he adored more than any other, permitting a hand to rest comfortably on the space just below her neck. He knew, somehow, that she had not yet drifted off to sleep.

His mind was filled with so many thoughts that it felt like it was going to burst. Distant reminiscences made him strangely mindful of the present. He laid there for almost a minute, eyes wide open and staring at his wife’s somnolence but thinking of nothing but how they had made it this far together, and how they had gained so much. He wanted to express something along the lines of what he was feeling. If anyone were to understand his senseless ramblings, it would be her. “Daryl?”

“Mmm?”

“Remember… all those times when you told me to stop working and come to bed?”

“Mmm.” It was a simple noise of affirmation, but it somehow communicated more nostalgia than Cid could ever have believed possible.

“I so do wish I had taken up those chances.”

She let out the slightest snort of laughter and rolled over onto her side, much as Ffamran had done mere minutes ago. The mother and the son shared the very same smile. Cid drew closer to her then, draping an arm over her waist and finally taking the opportunity to close his eyes, to fully lose himself in the present as he felt sleep take them both.


End file.
